The Lancet fact-checks Trump's letter to WHO and Dr. Tedros

The Lancet says Trump's letter contains 'factually incorrect' details.

Medical journal The Lancet has issued this rapid response to comments made by impeached President Donald Trump in his letter to World Health Organization General Director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to correct false statements about The Lancet by Trump.

In this letter, The Lancet notes that they did not, as Trump falsely said, comment on the coronavirus crisis in late December 2019.

Their first reports on the novel coronavirus were in mid-January.

Chinese experts took part in its first two reports on COVID-19, the journal says, and Trump is "damaging… efforts to strengthen international cooperation to control this pandemic."

And from Richard Horton, below, the Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet:

Dear President Trump – You cite The Lancet in your attack on WHO. Please let me correct the record. The Lancet did not publish any report in early December, 2019, about a virus spreading in Wuhan. The first reports we published were from Chinese scientists on Jan 24, 2020.

Source: Statement from The Lancet in response to President Donald Trump's May 18 letter to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization